Mallett's 3 first-half TDs enough for No. 11 Hogs

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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Ryan Mallett got off to a great start,
looking right at home in an NFL stadium.

He might've gone home awfully disappointed, though, if Tramain
Thomas hadn't snatched an interception in the end zone on the
game's final play.

Mallett threw three touchdown passes in the first half, but
failed to build on it and No. 11 Arkansas ended up needing to
hold on for a 24-17 victory over Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium on
Saturday.

"I tried to knock it down against Georgia and they almost caught
it, so I had it in my mindset that I was going up to get the
ball," Thomas said.

He did, and the Razorbacks (4-1) came away with a much-needed
win between a home loss to No. 1 Alabama and a trip to No. 8
Auburn.

Arkansas had several chances to put the game away early, between
leading 21-7 with 53 seconds left in the first half and
recovering three fumbles inside the Aggies' 40-yard line.

They just couldn't do it. They got only one field goal out of
the turnovers, missing another and botching a fake. Mallett was
bottled up by a defense that took away his deep routes. A&M
(3-2) sacked him three times; he'd gone down only six all
season. One came from Von Miller, who led the nation with 17
last season but had been shut out so far this season. The Aggies
only had five sacks coming in.

"We're not used to not-executing like that," Arkansas coach
Bobby Petrino said. "They put a lot of pressure on you with
their different looks. They threw a couple spin looks in, where
they look like they were bringing up one side and brought it the
other."

The Aggies were coming off a tough loss, too, a wild game at
Oklahoma State blown by five turnovers.

A&M wound up giving the ball away four times - the fourth
straight game that happened. Yet quarterback Jerrod Johnson
squeezed in enough big plays to keep things interesting all the
way to the end.

"Regardless of people saying, `Well, you played a good game,' we
can't accept that," Aggies coach Mike Sherman said.

On the final drive, Johnson converted a third-and-10 and a
fourth-and-14. A pass interference penalty put A&M on the
Arkansas 39 with 6 seconds left, setting up the dramatic last
play.

He was aiming for Jeff Fuller, which only made sense. Fuller
caught eight passes for 154 yards, including a 69-yarder and a
31-yard touchdown. Johnson finished 15 of 40 for 212 yards.

Johnson came in with eight interceptions in his last six
quarters. His only interception this time was on the final play.

"I'd be lying to say that he didn't internalize a little
pressure on himself to make sure he didn't have any miscues with
the football, but it didn't take away his aggressiveness,"
Sherman said. "He read things very well and made good decisions
and made some big-time throws."

But not of Mallett's caliber.

Built like a prototype NFL quarterback, he played like it, too,
at first - opening the game with an 80-yard drive, capped by a
9-yard touchdown pass to Joe Adams, then bouncing back from an
interception to hit Cobi Hamilton on a 71-yard touchdown pass
that was so well done it could become the centerpiece of his
Heisman Trophy promotional campaign.

Whatever adjustments A&M made after that, Arkansas was unable to
figure them out.

Mallett threw for 132 yards in the first quarter, then just 178
the rest of the game. His total of 310 marked the fifth time
he's cracked 300 this season, already tying the full-season
record he set last year. He completed 27 of 38 passes.

Knile Davis ran for a career-high 82 yards, including a 45-yard
burst on the opening drive. Broderick Green added 58 yards, but
the SEC's worst rushing attack never scared A&M enough to loosen
up the passing lanes for Mallett.

This is the second game in a 10-year series between these
schools at the stadium built by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry
Jones, an Arkansas alum. His Razorbacks won 47-19 last year.

The game drew 65,622, and caused for quite a traffic day in
Arlington as a baseball playoff game between the Texas Rangers
and Tampa Bay Rays started 1 1/2 hours after kickoff.